Belfiore’s Argentinian Sausage

When you walk in to Belfiore Italian Sausage, the first you thing you notice is the deeply comforting combination of well-worn and impeccably maintained. It’s a scene you don’t find often enough in Denver. The owner, Gino Scarafiotti, a clear-eyed, full-bearded former chef and a third-generation Denverite, grew up shopping at the deli. Belfiore has been in business, with various owners, for about 70 years and is one of a handful of remaining old-time businesses on what used to be an Italian corridor.

Scarafiotti, who operates Belfiore with a few family members, bakes delicate anise oil pizzelle in a wafflemaker-like appliance that has been in the deli since before he was born. He sells homemade ravioli, tomato sauce (no, he doesn’t call it “ gravy” the way they do back east), hot salami that he cures in his cooler, and a truly delicious Argentinian sausage.

Advertisement

That sausage, which he usually grinds and stuffs every Thursday, was created for the owner of an Argentinian food truck. It’s made with pork butt, dried oregano, fennel, garlic, and two sources of smoke: bacon and aji molido, a smoked chile that Scarafiotti imports from Argentina.

The resulting sausage has the ideal balance of sweet, smoke, and spice and it must be eaten on a toasted Italian roll with mayonnaise, sautéed onions, and chimichurri sauce. It’s a mashup of flavors and cultures—and it’s perfect.